American Goshawk 171 



poultry and pigeons, and according to Morrison, preys 

 largely on grouse, hares and various reptiles. Out of 

 133 stomachs examined by Fisher, 34 contained poultry 

 and game and 52, other birds, while only 11 contained 

 mammals. 



Cooper's Hawk sometimes makes use of the old nests 

 of other birds or even squirrels, and sometimes builds 

 for itself. Gale found a nest forty feet up in a thick 

 spruce, on May 29th, near Gold Hill. It was a bulky 

 structure of sticks and twigs, with green sprays of 

 balsam-fir intertwined, and contained four fresh eggs ; 

 another nest, found June 28th, consisted merely of a few 

 flakes of spruce bark lying on a natural bunch of matted 

 scrub. The eggs, generally four, are pale bluish -white, 

 sometimes immaculate, sometimes faintly marked with 

 scrawls and spots of brown and fawn. They average 

 1*90 X 1*50. Gale gives May 30th as an average date 

 for fresh eggs, and states that the female is often very 

 bold and pertinacious in defence of her nest. 



Genus ASTUR, 



Resembling Accipiter, but with stouter and shorter legs and toes ; 

 tarsus feathered at least half way down ; middle toe without claw not 

 exceeding outer toe with claw, 



A large and very wide ranging genus, with only one species in the 

 United States separated into two races. 



Key of the Species. 



A. Above slaty-blue, marked with slaty-grey below. 



A. atricapillus, p. 171. 



B. Above darker, almost sooty ; below markings darker and 



heavier. A. a. striatulus, p. 173. 



American Goshawk. Astur atricapillus. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 334— Colorado Records— Ridgway 73, p. 186 ; 

 Drew 81, p. 141 ; 85, p. 17 ; Morrison 89, p. 7 ; Osburn 93, p. 212 ; 

 Lowe 94, p. 267 ; Cooke 97, pp. 74, 204 ; Henderson 03, p. 107 ; 09, 



